Transgender cop story: `Poor taste’ or interesting read?

There are fascinating stories, and then there are stories like the one about Sgt. Jack Oliver, a veteran Houston Police Department officer who soon will be buying clothes at Talbots rather than Brooks Brothers.

Oliver, a 49-year-old father of five, shortly will be undergoing gender reassignment surgery and legally changing his name to “Julia Christine,” thus paving the way to becoming a woman and ending his long struggle with gender identity.

I found Oliver’s story to be fascinating. Think about it. A guy — not just any “guy,” a cop — longing to become a woman in a law enforcement culture and society that generally frowns on those who dare to be different.

But some Chronicle readers hardly found the story interesting. Consider this e-mail:

I’m extremely upset at the article of the transgender cop. That was in extremely poor taste to air an article about such a subject, including the picture. Please don’t do an article like this again.

In the interest of fairness and balance of opinions from Chronicle readers, here’s the other side:

Thanks for the warm article on Sgt. Julia Oliver’s difficult transition of gender correction. And thanks for not feeling it necessary to throw in a gratuitous negative comment from conservative pastors who haven’t the foggiest idea of what this is all about anyway.